Do you book far in advance? If so what's the benefit?

[DiszeeBelle]

I'm a planner so doing last minute is no good for me plus got pets to arrange accommodation for and the places we use cannot be booked only few weeks in advance. A big reason is also being able to afford it, the option of putting money away monthly does not work as hubby just puts it off and other things crop up so saying "it won't matter if I just do this..." and soon it's gets less and less so paying monthly direct debits to TA is best option. Everyone has a method they prefer to do, no one method is better than another it's just how individuals are. If everything is the same life would be boring.

[SquishTheWhale]

Personally I much prefer to book in advance. You may find it cheaper to book last minute but that's not the case for me. We went on Honeymoon last year and booked 3 different hotels (2 in Orlando, 1 in Miami) and a cruise. The hotels were bookef via Travel Republic for a £1 deposit so I monitored the prices all the time. They only went up up up. Same with the cruise. If I'd left it within a month or two of departure I'd have paid easily £1000pp more.

I'm not saying it never works to book last minute for a cheap deal- fine, if you're flexible on dates and hotels, have no problem getting time off work and willing to change plans if what you want isn't available.

[Scaramouche]

Originally Posted by razorsharp192

We're staying offsite this year, but every other year we've stayed onsite and the holidays have always been cheaper booking closer to the time. Appreciate the free dining logic, but is there really a saving given that you're paying more for the holiday than you would by leaving it until closer to the time? We stayed at ASMu last year for £800 each, booked 3 months in advance, booking the same holiday 12 months in advance would've cost well over £1000 each, the difference in cost was more than we paid in food costs so even with free dining it wouldn't have been cheaper overall.

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The room we booked with free dining wasn't available 3 months later (15 months ago) and is now £2k+ more expensive because they only have Club level. We wouldn't be going if we hadn't booked then.

[NewtoOrlando]

I book all my holidays a year in advance, because it suits us. We both struggle to get multiple weeks off work in the summer due to our jobs (policeman hubby and I work for the NHS on a very busy children's ward)

We've always done it this way, and it doesn't really need a proper reason, other than we like to book early to get exactly what we want.

What suits one doesn't suit another and all that!

[razorsharp192]

Originally Posted by steruth

I Would love to do this to get a bargain.
We are looking at Oct this year and never left so late so panicking a bit although not staying on site. Panicking more so for the flight/car prices.
Do you go in term time or out of term time. I am presuming this makes a difference.
x

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We avoid school holidays as the prices always go up during school holidays. You should get a good deal for October though since it's during UK term time. We book the time off work in advance of course to ensure we have the time off, then start looking for holidays for those specific dates. I start looking about 4 months in advance on Thomson and Thomas Cook's website, set up a spreadsheet and make a note of the prices of the hotels you're looking at, then do that daily and you'll be able to track when the prices change. The first year is the hardest as you've got no prices to compare against, but the more years you do it you'll start to know what's a good pric (that is presuming you go on holiday around the same time of year each year, as otherwise a good price for October for example wont be the same time as a good price for August so you couldn't compare the 2).

[Mrs dee]

School holiday flights is my reason, dining plan too. Finally I NEED TO KNOW IM DEFINITELY BOOKED 🤣. Drives my hubby crazy but hey ho. The only thing he's happy about is that o won't book unless I know I've got a deal lol and once again this year for next summer I definitely have so I'm happy.

[magickate]

By the time you've bought tickets & paid for food/drink that's no cheaper than we've just booked for October next year.
We can organise our annual leave, have the excitement of a countdown, arrange pet sitters (We go in school holidays & they book up quick), book extras like restaurants, dessert parties, tours for the exact day & time we want & know exactly how much to budget.
Advance booking every time for us.

[VickyJ]

I think the poster earlier hit the nail on the head. CHOICE
We have gone to dis many many times and we know the things that we really want to do during out trips and when it suits us best to do them. no its not make or break but its the little things that make the difference. Food choices are also really important to me. I DO NOT eat fast food. I am not a lover of beige fried rubbish. with this in mind I book good restaurants and enjoy my holiday

[KC2014]

We stay off-site and I prefer to research and choose the villa quite far in advance to ensure we get what we want in the area we like. I booked the villa for our next trip in March 2017 and the same villa is now completely booked either side of our dates by several weeks. I can wait for flights and car hire but I like my accommodation to be perfect. Also I booked our airport hotel about 7 months ago and got 2 rooms for £134. Same rooms are now £190 and just seem to keep going up!

[Palm trees]

We are tied to school holidays so that's a big thing for us.

However just as importantly I am undeniably the type of person who actively enjoys (hard to emphasise how much!) Knowing that my trip is booked... even if it's just the villa so far in relation to our next trip.

I've got a countdown!. It makes me very very happy, that's all I can say really. My husband claims to humour me. I actually think that he feels the same way!